Jim Greer endorses Michael Steele for RNC Chairman

From Politico

Florida Republican Party Chair Jim Greer will announce Wednesday afternoon that he will not run for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, and instead endorse the campaign of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a source close to Greer said.

Greer has spoken positively about Steele in the past, and following the RNC candidates’ Monday debate, Greer said he was impressed by Steele’s rhetoric in favor of minority outreach.

As recently as Wednesday morning, some Republican insiders thought Greer might jump into the race, and on Monday Greer was unwilling to rule out his own bid.

“I don’t think we have a frontrunner yet,” he said at the time. “Until there’s some indication that one or two of the horses are pulling away, there’s an opportunity to get in.”

Following meetings on Tuesday with all six candidates and a conversation with his wife, Greer decided to throw his weight behind Steele’s campaign.

The Florida chairman, widely viewed as a moderate and a leading GOP spokesman on diversity issues, had mulled his own bid since November, but repeatedly said he would only enter the race if he felt that none of the other candidates was speaking to his top issues.

That kind of candidate, Greer told Politico Monday, would have to be someone “talking about doing this together, versus what they’re going to do, and somebody that really says what Republicans are saying, which is: we’ve got problems.”

Greer plans to return to Florida following the RNC’s Wednesday meeting to run for reelection as state chairman, a post from which he will likely continue to speak out on issues related to party diversity.

After buzz about his potential candidacy began to subside in December, Greer weighed in at the end of the month amid the controversy over former Tennessee Republican Party Chair and RNC candidate Chip Saltsman’s decision to send RNC members a CD of political songs, including one titled “Barack the Magic Negro.”

“We can only achieve success if Republican leaders reject racial or any other acts that divide us and instead embrace what united us as a nation,” he said in a statement December 29.